


Runner's High

by DashFlintceschi



Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Josh and Dan run the London Marathon, Josh has a plan, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 18:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2120943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel of Fresh Start Fever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Runner's High

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning on ever writing a sequel to FSF, but I got the idea for this from a news story I read this morning about three amputees who are doing a mega hard obstacle race called the Spartan Race in East Lothian next month.

Dan and Josh have just finished their morning run, three years after Josh lost his leg, and seven months since they got engaged. Dan’s leaning against the car while Josh changes his running blade for his normal prosthetic, humming a random tune to himself as he decides where they should go for breakfast. He stops humming as Josh stands from the passenger seat and looks at him nervously.

“Don’t get pissed, but I signed us up for the London Marathon,” he tells him, and Dan raises his eyebrows in surprise.

“I’m not pissed, in fact, I’m proud that you feel like you can accomplish it, and that you want me there with you when you do,” he refutes, then holds his hand out for Josh to take as they walk away from the car in search of breakfast, Josh grinning happily as Dan forms a new training regime in his mind to prepare for the marathon.

They start Dan’s new training plan the next day, and by the time the day of the marathon comes four months later, Dan’s happy that they’re both fit enough, and prepared enough to finish the marathon with a decent time. When they start the race, though, Dan quickly realises that Josh is going at a much more sedate pace than Dan had planned. He looks to Josh with a mixture of confusion and worry, and Josh shrugs.

“I don’t care about getting a good time, I just want to finish, to know I can do it,” he explains, and Dan nods in understanding, settling into the sedate pace Josh has set.

Dan starts to get worried when Josh insists on stopping at every water station along the route, and often slows down until they’re almost walking, but that’s because he doesn’t notice Josh checking his watch more often than necessary, or the nervous, knowing look in his eyes. When they get to the marker announcing that they only have five miles left, Josh checks his watch, and panics slightly. They’re going to get to the finish line too early. He thinks quickly, and grabs Dan’s elbow as he slows to a stop.

“Hang on, I need to stop for a minute, I can’t breathe,” he gasps, only slightly over-dramatically. He lets Dan think he’s hit ‘the wall’ as he leans against a fence and wastes ten minutes. When he can’t pretend anymore without Dan getting too worried, he starts moving again at a walk. “Can we just walk for a few minutes, until I get back into it?” He asks softly, and Dan agrees easily, still too worried to notice Josh checking his watch every few minutes.

Once Josh is happy that they’ll get to the finish line when he wants them to, he starts speeding up until they’re jogging again. It’s starting to get dark, and they haven’t seen any other runners for a few hours, but Josh had expected that, and the marathon official that appears behind them, following them on a bike as he announces into his walkie-talkie that there’s still runners. The officials already knew this, of course, Josh had told them of his plans a few days before the race, but they’d graciously agreed to pretend that they hadn’t been expecting them, to keep Dan in the dark until the last possible second.

When they turn the corner onto the last stretch of the race, Dan’s surprised when he looks up and sees their band mates and all of their families waiting at the finish line. Well, he’d expected them to be there, but it’s the way they’re dressed that surprises him. The men are in suits, or in his band mates’ cases, shirts and jeans, and the women are in dresses. Maybe they decided to surprise him and Josh by taking them out to celebrate after they finish the race. He still doesn’t notice the look in Josh’s eyes, until the cross the finish line, and Josh pulls him into a hug.

“Marry me, right here, right now,” Josh mumbles into his hair, and Dan pulls back to look at him with surprised eyes.

“We kind of need a minister for that, and a marriage licence,” he reminds him, and Josh smiles at the absence of an outright ‘no’.

“I have the marriage licence, and Chris became a minister online, so he could do it,” he tells him, and Dan squints at him suspiciously.

“This isn’t a spur of the moment thing, is it?” He asks, and Josh shakes his head with a sly grin.

“I’ve been planning this for months,” he admits, the cool confidence he’s been feeling slipping away. Maybe this wasn’t as good an idea as he’d thought. 

“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Dan asks suddenly, taking Josh’s hand and tugging him over to where Chris is waiting for them, noticing, but not mentioning, Josh’s deep sigh of relief.

As Chris finishes the ceremony, and they slide the rings onto each other’s fingers, Dan’s filled with elation, and a feeling he’d previously thought of as a runner’s high. It’s a million times stronger, though. No runner’s high could ever live up to this feeling.


End file.
